


A Drop of Red in a Sea of Blue

by Discogurl



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bottom Louis, Dark Harry, Enemies to Lovers, Kidnapping, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Niall is a slut, Past Abuse, Pirates, Poor Louis, Possessive Behavior, Protective Harry, Rivalry, Sassy Louis, Secret Relationship, Tattoos, Top Harry, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:41:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21681130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Discogurl/pseuds/Discogurl
Summary: Louis is a poor commoner fighting to make ends meet. Harry is the ruthless pirate captain of the Bloody Mary who steals all the money he wants. Louis happens to resemble the young Prince William of England. Harry happens to have a weird obsession with the royal family. Louis would never dream of hurting anyone on purpose. Harry dreams of hurting people.OrLouis just wants to keep his mother healthy and Harry just wants revenge on the crown. That includes an attempted kidnapping of the British King’s only son. There’s only one flaw in his plan, and that’s Louis.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan/Liam Payne, Niall Horan/Zayn Malik
Comments: 62
Kudos: 144





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty everyone! This will be my first ever One Direction AU I will write rather than read. I've been toying with ideas for a plot for forever and only now have decided to pick one and go for it. I don't have a schedule yet of when I plan to work on it and post chapters, but I hope to get into the flow with the new year on its way. I would absolutely LOVE to hear some reactions on this first chapter and any feedback at all makes me feel warm inside and gives me motivation to keep writing. Thank you thank you! 
> 
> Also, this chapter is mostly a mild intro into the story, but towards the end there is a scene in which a character must escape from a burning building. If that makes you uncomfortable, stop reading when you get to “Hello?” and start reading again at “Please… fire". 
> 
> Enjoy! x

The day was meant to be rotten from the very start. The roof of the cramped apartment Louis calls home wakes him first thing in the morning with a few surprise drips of bone chilling water to his face. It must have rained that night, he thinks. He’d been meaning to do something about the slowly deteriorating roof now for a while but it seems that whenever he manages to successfully accumulate some money to purchase the materials to properly patch the hole up, something more pressing arises like medicine for his sick mother who lives back in London. Not to mention Louis rarely has any free time on his hands considering he works from sun up all the way until the sun returns to the horizon, at which point he usually drops from exhaustion. 

It isn’t easy working his two jobs. He works in the back of a printing building helping load and print newspapers. After they close in the evening, Louis has to rush to his second job as the local blacksmith’s apprentice. It’s always sweltering in the shop even without the sun beating down on the land and Louis despises his blacksmith even more than the heat. But Louis bears it because he has to. If he misses a day of work he misses three days worth of food.

After being leaked on, Louis’ day only seems to get worse. As soon as he was awake he could feel a dull, almost fuzzy pain in the back of his head that only meant one thing. He was hungry. For anyone else who eats consistently may think that the body’s way of announcing it’s hunger would be a growling stomach. Not in Louis’ case. His stomach never stops growling since he eats so very little, most of what he earns everyday going straight to his mother. For Louis, true hunger is his head throbbing from the lack of food and the nutrients it offers.

Louis ignores his head. He knows without needing to look that he has nothing to eat. He would have to wait until tomorrow when he’s paid again. He was woken up at a decent time at least, given enough time to get ready for and go to work. He hauls himself off of his bed, which is hardly more than a few tattered blankets formed in the shape of a bed on the floor. 

His makeshift closet isn’t in any better condition. It doesn’t hold many options for clothes, though Louis never dresses to impress, never needing to. He reaches in and pulls out the first things he finds, a pair of only slightly dirty trousers, wrinkled boxers, socks, and a plain black long sleeved t-shirt. Numbly, he dresses himself.

There is no mirror in the apartment, but just from looking down at himself, Louis knows he doesn’t look like much. At least with clothes on he doesn’t look quite so thin. His pale skin is also covered decently save for his face and arms. He doesn’t let himself get swept away in the fantasy that maybe one day he could be wearing lavish garb fit for a king. He’s learned that getting too deep in one of those fantasies only leads to a harsh reality check. 

Louis shakes his head to prevent any wandering thoughts, focusing once again on the present; reality. He runs his fingers through his unwashed hair. It’ll need a proper washing in the next few days if he wants to keep it somewhat manageable. His beard is also starting to grow back in. It’ll need shaved soon too. For now he leaves it alone.

After fixing his hair his morning routine is just about finished. The one last step he ends with is slipping his one pair of worn shoes onto his socked feet. Now he’s ready for the day. 

Louis leaves his apartment and locks the door behind him. As soon as Louis steps outside, he realizes the water leaking onto his face from that morning, wasn’t only from the night before. It’s still raining, and it’s cooler than Louis had expected. He brings his hands up to rub at his arms now covered in goosebumps. 

He could turn around and go back inside to put something warmer on or add a layer, but really Louis doesn’t have much that could actually help. His clothes are all thinned and some have several large holes. He would only waste time going back. So he ducks his head and trudges on towards the newspaper printing building, about a twenty minute walk. 

On the walk to work, Louis’ eyes wander the still mostly empty streets. Most of the people out at this early hour are just like him. The lower class who simply have no other choice than to get up to go to work at this time since the middle and upper class refuse to work at such hours, and they don’t have to because they already make enough money. 

After meeting eyes with a boy his age across the street, Louis averts his eyes. His kind of people aren’t always the most friendly, and right now Louis would rather not get into a fight just for looking too long at someone. He sighs quietly and continues on. It seems he’s in the clear at the moment, finally getting a bit of good luck when so far his morning has been anything but. 

Twenty minutes later and he arrives at the printing building. The pain in his head has only gotten worse in the short walk here, and Louis continues to try his very hardest to ignore it. Hardly anyone is there yet, which is normal. Louis needs to be at work so early because his job is to get everything set up and ready to go for when the other employees show up to begin printing. 

Louis slips through the building wordlessly, heading to the back where he can clock in and begin working. While this work is less physically demanding than what he does at the blacksmiths, it’s not particularly any easier. Louis has to accurately fill all of the printing presses with fresh black ink. Not too much and not too little. Otherwise the papers come out faded or covered in so much ink they’re unreadable. Louis figured that out the hard way on his very first day working here. He filled the ink cans up with as much ink as possible since it seemed like in the long run it would save time, only to end up watching in horror as the printing machines spat out newspapers covered in a solid layer of ink. He had received such a scolding from the owner he vowed to never ever do it again in fear of getting fired. He simply can’t afford that, so therefore he can’t afford another stupid mistake. 

There are many other tasks he must do before the business actually begins for the day. He sweeps the floor, stacks fresh paper by the machines, and several other chores. Finally as he’s finishing up, the printing employees begin to arrive to get to work making papers. Now Louis’ job changes and he has to wait at the beck and call of each and every employee present. If they need extra paper, he is to fetch it for them. If they need a copy of a photo from the dark room, Louis would go and retrieve it for them. It was a little demeaning in Louis’ opinion, but definitely not the worst job he could be doing. 

The day feels like it goes on forever. He makes it through the full shift without any major mistakes which is a huge relief. It’s short-lived however, because he has to quickly tidy up after everyone leaves in order to scurry over to his next job with the blacksmith. When he rushes outside, he’s greeted with the distinct lack of rain. Louis welcomes that fact.

A wave of heat hits Louis in the face when he arrives to the small blacksmith shop. It does nothing to help his already pounding head, which is getting more and more difficult to ignore the longer the day goes on. He just tells himself that the day is almost done with and then he can go to sleep and forget about it. 

As Louis enters the shop, he notices right away something is different. Everyday is the same for him, a routine, so when something out of the ordinary occurs, he knows instantly. The blacksmith, O’Malley, as Louis calls him, is nowhere to be seen. The great oven in the middle of the room, lit and burning hotly, means he must have been here at least recently for otherwise who would have known how to light the beast or hot to get it burning so hot.

O’Malley may have gone to the back room where storage and spare parts are kept, but usually he only does that when Louis is around to watch the fire, just on the off chance that a lone ash escapes then at least Louis would be there to put it out before it catches the entire building on fire. With one more glance around the front of the shop Louis makes his way towards the back of the building in search of his boss.

It’s even more surprising to Louis when his big bellied boss is nowhere to be seen even in the back. Louis is positive he would never leave the fire unattended in such a way when no one was around to watch it. Something must be wrong. 

“Hello?” Louis calls out hesitantly. He isn’t sure what may be going on and it makes him a little nervous. Especially in the eerie quiet of the night. 

“Is anyone here?” He calls out once more, bringing his bottom lip up to chew lightly on, anxiously waiting for an answer that never comes. 

He hears a loud noise from the front of the shop instead of a voice, and he whirls around to run back to the front and see what the commotion is all about. What he sees is not what he ever would have expected. The large oven in the center of the shop still stands, but around it are scattered bright red coals, and with them, fire. An iron shovel lay in the mix. There is no other explanation for it other than someone must have come in and purposefully scooped the coals out and dumped them on the floor only to run away. 

Louis doesn’t have time to dwell on that fact though as the flames grow in size every second he simply stands there and dumbly watches. He snaps out of it with a quick shake of his head. They have a well installed against the far wall just in case there ever was a fire like this. The only problem is, the well is across the room, and between them, is a wall of fire. 

The smoke is already becoming intense and making Louis’ eyes water and his throat hurt. He coughs and brings his arm up to try and block out some of the smoke as he breathes, trying to think on his feet about what to do. By this point Louis thinks it may be too late for the shop. He knows O’Malley isn’t in the building so at least no one will perish if the building burns down, which is what it looks like is going to happen. The fire is so massive now and Louis has no way to get to the well and try to put water on it and put it out. 

He needs to escape. His body is instinctively telling him to flee and get away from the danger lying right in front of him. So he gives in. Louis turns and stumbles towards the exit, half blind from the thick smoke hanging in the room. He drops down to his knees and crawls, coughing harshly as he goes. 

He’s never been in a fire before. He remembers back in the day when he was still a young boy and attending school when his teachers would go over the correct procedures in class about what to do in case of a fire. Stop, drop, and roll. But that was if you were on fire yourself, and right now Louis isn’t on fire, yet. He needs to know how to get out and away from the fire before that happens. 

The smoke closer to the ground isn’t as thick but it’s just as potent. It seems to choke Louis from the inside. His eyes continue to water and it makes seeing difficult. A couple times Louis has to pause to cough violently. 

Finally, he can see the outline of the still open door. This is his chance to escape and any more time spent in the burning building means Louis’ chances of suffocating or burning to death increase. 

After what feels like ages, Louis finally manages to drag himself out of the building. The cold damp air now feels good on his flushed skin. He doesn’t get long to bask in the fresh air though, as he continues to scramble further from the fire. He needs to warn the people nearby to evacuate and to help contain the fire so it doesn’t spread. He’s prevented from doing that though when he comes face to face with a pair of boots. It must be someone who had seen the fire and was there to help! Yes that must be it, why else would they be there. 

“Please… fire,” Louis rasps out, his throat burning too much to say anything more as he lapses into another coughing fit. 

As he recovers from his fit, Louis notices that the boots haven’t moved. That’s not right, they need to go help notify others. So Louis finally tilts his head back to look up at the person and figure out what the deal is. The boots belong to a man dressed in a wide brimmed hat with a feather perched atop his head, curls falling to his shoulders. He has a fancy embroidered coat hanging from his broad shoulders, tight trousers that taper into those damn boots still placed right beside Louis’ head. Louis’ eyes snap back up at the one detail he almost missed. There’s a sword in its sheath held at the man’s hip. No one Louis knows even owns a sword, let alone carries one around with them like this. 

“Who are you?” He rasps out quietly, looking back up at the mans face. He looks kind at least, Louis thinks. 

The mans previously charming face suddenly changes when he smirks down at Louis cruelly. “Your worst nightmare, little one,” he murmurs down at Louis. Then he reaches around behind him and draws a small gun from where it must have been hidden under his coat. 

He wonders if perhaps this is who started the fire, maybe with the wish to burn him alive only to fail and now he has to shoot him. Turns out that isn’t what the devilish man has in mind. He instead rotates the gun in his hand so he’s holding it backwards, still smirking like the devil, before he brings the butt of the gun down hard over Louis’ head. All Louis feels is a bright burst of pain, and then blissfully, nothing as everything fades to black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finals week! So while I have a ton of studying to do, I also need breaks from all of it and that's why this next update came to exist so soon! 
> 
> In the next several weeks I will be traveling with my family and then celebrate Christmas right after so the next update may not be posted for a while, just as a heads up. 
> 
> In the meantime enjoy this next chapter and have a very Happy Holiday! x

All of Louis’ senses are muted at first, coming in at half the capacity they normally would. The sounds floating to his ears are too muffled to figure out what was making them. 

The air reeks of salt and something rotten, which makes no sense to Louis at this point and only serves to make him a bit nauseous. The only thing he knows for sure is the fact he’s lying down on his back and on top of a hard flat surface. 

Louis simply lies frozen in place, carefully keeping his eyes squeezed closed to keep the panic at bay, allowing his body and mind to get on the same wavelength again. He focuses on keeping calm and maintaining a steady rate of breathing. 

His throat feels as if he had eaten a cactus, and he supposes it’s due to all of the smoke he inhaled during the fire the night before, or at least the last time Louis was conscious. He isn’t exactly sure how much time has passed between then and now. 

Louis’ head doesn’t feel much better either, and the fire can’t be blamed for it. It was that blasted man who decided instead of a proper greeting he would just hit Louis over the head with his gun. Proper friendly gesture, Louis thinks bitterly. 

After several long minutes, Louis finally feels ready to try opening his eyes. With one last deep and painful breath, Louis braces himself and opens his eyes, sitting up as he does so. The only light Louis can identify is coming from several lanterns lit and hanging haphazardly from the ceiling.

His head sends a horrible stab of pain through the rest of his body as he changes position and he hisses at the sensation, hands coming up to clutch at his temples, vision blurring at the intensity. 

Finally he feels the pain subside enough that he feels like he can lower his hands and blink to clear his vision.

It turns out his calming techniques prove to have been insufficient as he does a sweep of the room with his eyes. And that’s exactly where he seems to be, a room, and a very small and cramped one at that. It also seems to be made entirely out of wood which wouldn’t be too unusual except for the fact that there are no windows. There is also a wooden staircase that descends from the ceiling which is located at the far side of the room, opposite from the side Louis’ cell is located.

The odd wooden room has yet another very peculiar feature. It’s full of cells, one of which is currently holding Louis. 

If he had to guess, Louis would estimate there are about ten cells in total and they look downright filthy, including Louis’ own. The air feels damp and that must be the cause for the stench as well as the mildew growing along the floor boards. 

Louis has been in his fair share of bad situations for sure, but this tops the charts for him. He prides himself for never having been locked up before since so many others like him fall into the hands of the system and never seem to be able to escape it. But this jail doesn’t seem to resemble what Louis thinks most normal ones look like. 

Louis then hears the man before he sees him, releasing him from his trance. 

“I see him! I see him, I see him, I see him!” The stranger yells. 

Louis feels his eyes widen at the man locked in the cell adjacent to himself. He has a scraggly grey beard growing from his chin and eyebrows to match. His skin is covered in such filth that Louis can’t quite get an accurate guess on his age. The man’s eyes are the worst part of his entire appearance though. They’re wide and bloodshot, staring directly at Louis, but look as if they’re unseeing. It almost seems like he’s looking right through Louis and at the empty wall behind him. 

Instinctively Louis turns around to check behind him, just in case the man meant there was a person behind him without Louis knowing. There isn’t anyone there. There isn’t anyone in the dungeon room other than the two of them.

“Who do you see? There isn’t anyone else here with us,” Louis answers back as evenly as he can. The man has only further thrown him off kilter. 

Chills shoot up and down Louis’ spine as the man continues to silently stare through him. Louis is about to repeat himself when the man suddenly erupts into a bout of giggles. It’s as if someone had just told the man the best joke he had ever heard. As the giggles taper off the man flashes a grin at Louis, but it doesn’t look sincere. Louis can’t help but notice more than a few teeth are missing. 

“Do you hear that?” The man asks next. “He thinks there isn’t anyone else here. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy”.

Louis is beginning to get a weird feeling deep in his core and it has everything to do with this man. He hadn’t even been addressing Louis that time. He was talking to no one as if Louis was the one who doesn’t exist. 

“Sir please, I don’t know where I am and I don’t remember much. There was a fire and a man,” Louis starts. “He had a gun, yeah that’s right and he - he hit me with it and must’ve knocked me out. Do you know where we are? Or who brought me here?”

Louis just wants to understand and to figure out what’s going on. He hopes it’s all a big mixup and he’ll be released from his tiny cell soon. He knows he didn’t do anything bad enough recently to lead to him being thrown in jail so there must be another reason why he would be locked up. 

The man still doesn’t seem to pay Louis any mind as he speaks to the empty space beside him in hushed whispers. 

“Please, sir, I have a family I need to take care of and I can’t afford to miss work for their sake,” Louis pleads. 

The man continues to ignore him. Now Louis becomes frustrated. He doesn’t usually let himself get worked up like this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. 

“Hey! I’m talking to you! Why won’t you answer me?” He snaps, voice rising. “Tell me where we are and who is responsible for this.”

Finally, it seems the key to get the other man’s attention is to yell. 

“Good luck,” the man says, the corners of his mouth quirking up to form that demonic smirk again. 

That didn’t answer either of Louis’ questions and only makes him feel the sharp pang of dread begin at the base of his spine. He watches as the man throws his head back to hoot and holler, seemingly ever delighted at Louis’ misery and confusion. 

It appears if Louis wants to figure anything out it will have to be done himself. He stands and instantly wobbles, pitching forward to latch his fingers around the bars of the cell to steady himself. It takes him a moment to realize his balance is thrown off not because of a possible concussion, but because the floor is moving. The entire room is moving in fact, swaying up and down languidly. 

Then it hits him. Louis shuffles over to the side of the cell that isn’t made of bars but of solid wood, gripping the iron bars the whole way so he wouldn’t fall. Once directly in front of the wooden wall, Louis leans in and lets his nose hover over the seams in the wood, inhaling deeply. Salt. Ocean.

Louis turns his head then to press an ear up against the wood and listens silently. He can’t hear anything from the other side. It’s enough to confirm his original conclusion. He’s on a ship. 

“Shit,” Louis hisses under his breath. Why would he be on a ship? If he was truly in trouble with the law he would just be put in the local jail. Ships are usually only necessary to transport goods and to use for travel. There really must have been a mistake made then. Perhaps when Louis was hit with the gun and unconscious, he was taken to the hospital but thought to be dead so he was put on a ship to be disposed of? But that wouldn’t explain the cell he’s in. No reason to lock up a dead man. 

He decides that right now he doesn’t care about why he was put here, his main priority needs to be getting out. He needs to find the crew and demand they take him back home. 

“Okay think Louis, think,” he whispers to himself as he turns again and looks around his cramped cell. The bars are placed too close together for Louis to squeeze out. Even though his body is fairly narrow for a man his age, it simply isn’t enough. 

He lurches forward to investigate the door. He stumbles a few steps forward and reattaches his fingers around a bar to steady himself as he leans down to examine the lock. He slips an arm out from between two bars and thumbs over the large padlock. It’s heavy and rusted, but seems to be as strong as ever as Louis attempts a few tugs to see if it has any give. It doesn’t. 

Louis swears under his breath as he leans his full weight against the heavy door, knowing he isn’t anywhere near strong or heavy enough to force it to open but he has to try everything. He even draws back to throw his full body against the door a few times. Of course that still doesn’t work. 

After the ramming, Louis scowls to himself and scans the cell again for any weak spots he can exploit. There really seems to be none. Every bar of the cell looks straight and each one goes straight from the top of the ceiling directly into the floor underneath Louis’ feet. The bars aren’t even quite as rusty as the lock, so they must be as strong as ever. 

“Hello? Can anyone hear me? What am I doing here?” Louis calls out, head tilted up towards the ceiling and hands cupping around his mouth to try and project the sound even more. He assumes that if he’s correct about being on a ship, he’s got to be below deck, which means the crew would be up. 

The swaying of the ship makes it difficult to tell if they’re moving or not, but Louis is almost positive that no matter if they were docked or sailing, at least a single person would be on the ship. 

“Hello?” Louis calls out again. “I didn’t do anything wrong! I have to get back to the city! I have responsibilities! A family!” He tries again. 

The other man in the room with Louis stands and flings himself at the cell bars facing Louis. He isn’t laughing anymore, and Louis thinks he almost prefers the eerie laughter compared to the man now who is hissing at Louis, acting every bit as animal like as he looks. 

“You fool! Do you want the devil himself to find you? He eats souls and your soul is the only one left here,” the man snaps. “He took mine from me. My soul, the devil took it and he ate it. Mean, mean, mean.”

Louis puts a pause in his yelling to eye the man wearily, coming to the conclusion that he must have gone off the deep end or something similar. Maybe he’s been locked away for so long, his mind has been lost. Or perhaps he speaks the truth and his soul was taken? That can’t possibly be true though, Louis doesn’t believe in the devil. He would need proof to even consider believing in something like that. Though it does make him nervous with how adamant this man is about the devil being real. 

“The devil… is here? Is he who took me?” Louis asks. Maybe if he speaks this man’s language then he can finally get some answers out of him, even if they are a bit skewed. 

“Don’t be stupid, of course he brought you here. He saw your soul and he wanted it for himself so he took you. He took me too, some time ago,” the man says and furrows his eyebrows, head tilting down as if getting lost in his own thoughts. 

“Tell me about this devil. What does he look like? Can we escape before he comes back? Before he… takes my soul?” Louis asks. 

The man in front of Louis doesn’t answer right away, instead glancing to his right and muttering a few words Louis can’t make out. Louis thinks he’s talking to no one again. 

The man’s head turns back to Louis and his eyes narrow in on Louis’ face and it makes him feel suddenly very vulnerable. It isn’t a very good feeling. 

“There is no escaping from the devil. He is too powerful. He uses evil to take and keep people to torture them for eternity. The more pain and suffering, the more he enjoys it,” he states in a hushed tone. 

Louis can’t help but gulp in slight fear. He still doesn’t believe this is the actual devil the man is talking about, but maybe there is someone aboard this ship who is so horrible that the man mistakes him for the devil. 

“Does he have any weaknesses? There has to be a way to get away. There must have been others like us, but we’re the only two locked up here. Where did they all go?” Louis asks. 

The man snickers quietly as if Louis is asking a dumb question. “They’re dead. He fed off their souls and after that he had no use for their bodies. So he got rid of them. Fed them to the sharks, that be my guess,” he says, sounding almost proud of his hypothesis. 

“Then why are you still here if he took your soul? Wouldn’t he get rid of you too?” Louis asks nervously. 

“The devil has other plans for me.”

“Like… what?”

The smirk reappears on the mans face. “Secret! Secret plans! I can’t tell you,” he answers in a sing song voice. 

Louis scowls again since this whole conversation has gotten him nowhere and has only succeeded in spooking him more. 

“Fine, don’t tell me then,” Louis grumbles to himself. He would’ve liked to have gotten even a little more information about his captor and the situation he’s in to try and use it to his advantage, but ultimately, he really is on his own in this. 

Louis decides to ignore the man who now seems perfectly content to go and sit in the corner of his cell and watch a rat that’s getting much to close for comfort, at least in Louis’ opinion.

Louis isn’t particularly squeamish when it comes to animals, but rats are a whole other story. Not only does Louis feel like they constantly watch him with their beady little eyes, but they carry diseases, and Louis would prefer not to get any while he’s locked away in a dark ship without knowing where he is or who might be around who would be able to treat him. 

So Louis tries to ignore the rat right along with the man, once again stepping along the perimeter of his cell to push against each individual bar in hopes of finding one weaker than the others. When that fails, he kneels down to run his hands along the boards on the floor to see if any of those might be loose or missing a screw. Again, his search ends in vain when it seems everything is reinforced just enough to keep people in for good. 

Louis stands up to do a quick pace back and forth from the back of the cell to the front while letting out a frustrated string of curses. Unthinkingly, he kicks one of the cell bars, which only increases his volume because now his foot throbs in agony.

Louis feels like he’s a teenager again. He remembers when he was around seventeen and absolutely furious after having seen his then girlfriend kissing another boy at school. He had come home in a fit and almost as soon as he was alone in his room, his fist had connected with the mirror on the wall. 

Louis was lucky his mother was trained in first aid and that she had been home at the time to help clean and dress his broken and bloodied hand. She had been as calm as ever, silent as she had worked. When she was finished, she had given him a hug and a kiss to his hair before excusing herself to go finish cooking dinner. 

That was only months before his mother had fallen ill and Louis was forced to grow up and to leave his childhood home to find work elsewhere. No more punching mirrors or letting his emotions get the best of him, since no one would be there to help mend him afterwards. 

His mother’s health became more important, so Louis threw himself into his work to do everything in his power to help her just as she had helped him so many times before. 

Now it seems that his distress is getting the best of him and making him lash out for the first time in years. Louis drops back down to his knees and crawls over to the corner of the cell to curl in on himself pitifully. 

He’s completely stuck until someone decides to come let him out. He’s at someone else’s complete mercy and Louis hates that feeling. He’s been independent for so long now it’s hard to revert back to being totally and completely dependent. 

Louis would never normally allow himself to show such vulnerability in front of any witnesses, but the only other person nearby is the man lost in his own little world. So Louis allows himself a moment to be miserable and try to organize his thoughts.

He has to create a game plan for when someone does eventually come to let him out. Louis can’t consider the possibility that no one will come because he has to keep up hope. Once hope is lost, all else is too, he knows that. So he begins to brainstorm, weighing his options. 

Louis could attempt to rush them, but he’s not the tallest or strongest man by any means, and he still doesn’t have great balance with the ship’s swaying so he might topple over before even getting a solid hit in. 

Louis could play dead. His only fear with that option is that if he was thought to be dead, he would simply be thrown overboard. 

Thoughts continue to race in his mind for what feels like hours, but he still has no concept of time without the ability to see outside. He can feel his eyes beginning to droop in exhaustion, however, and hates the idea of actually willingly falling asleep in such a place, but he doesn’t know how long he will be kept there and needs to sleep at some point. While he may not be very strong to begin with, being sleep deprived will only worsen the situation. 

Just as Louis allows his eyes to drift closed to see if he can catch some sleep, he hears the man from the other cell laugh again. 

Louis feels a frown tug down on his lips as he opens his eyes to glare over at him, about to snap at him to be quiet, but the man beats him to it. 

“The devil! The devil is coming, he’s nearly here,” he says and widens his eyes. “And he isn’t coming for me. No, no, no… he’s coming for you,” he finishes ominously. 

“No one is coming,” Louis answers after waiting a beat and hearing nothing. 

The man just tilts his head and smiles. 

Louis starts to turn his own head back to try and settle down to sleep when he does hear something. It sounds like a heavy door opening. A bright light shines down from the top of the staircase and Louis jumps, eyes wide. The man said someone was coming and he was right. Maybe everything he had said actually had been the truth after all.

It seems Louis is about to find out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took me wayyyy longer than expected to complete! I got much busier than I anticipated over break and last week school started back up so I've been kept away from writing with so many other obligations. Hopefully now that I'm getting back into the swing of things I can write on a regular basis. Thank you for sticking with me! I hope you enjoy this next chapter! Like always, feel free to drop a comment! xx

In the past, Louis has never been afraid of death. He sees it so often in the area he lives in and even within his own family that he’s become almost desensitized to it. Life is temporary and there is nothing that can be done about it. 

The only fear related to his hypothetical death was the fact that his family would take a significant financial hit from it. 

Past Louis obviously didn’t think he would ever end up in the predicament he’s currently in. 

Past Louis was so naive. 

Right now Louis feels as if he is fear personified. It makes his entire body tense up and locks him in place, unable to so much as blink as his eyes remain glued on the silhouette of the devil himself.

Louis is unsure if time has stopped moving or if the figure at the top of the stairs is the one unmoving. Either way it feels like an eternity of Louis staring and waiting anxiously. 

Finally the figure takes a step forward down the steps, one foot following the other as he seemingly floats down the staircase. 

During the man’s descent Louis can only slightly make out his features in the dim light in the belly of the ship, the details of his features difficult to make out. 

Even with the low levels of light and the shock Louis feels through the entire process, he knows without a doubt that this is the same man who he encountered the night of the fire. The same man who hit him over the head with his gun.

Absurdly enough, that fact is what makes Louis frown and feel his muscles relax enough to turn his stare into a glare and he unfolds himself to get onto his feet. After being seen so helpless and weak before he feels the subconscious need to appear bigger and stronger this time. 

Louis doesn’t think about how this feels just like a predator and prey situation, wherein Louis is the prey trying to appear larger in order to scare away the predator before being eaten whole. 

One hand closes around a cell bar while Louis’ other pokes just outside of the cell between two bars, pointing at the strange man. He’s dressed much the same as he had been the first time they met, coat and hat included. Louis thinks it makes him look like every bit of the pompous bastard he is. 

“I know you. You were the one at the fire. You hit me with your gun and you brought me here, am I correct?” Louis asks, almost hoping it isn’t true and was just somehow part of a bad dream he had while unconscious. 

The man simply smirks. 

That’s answer enough for Louis. 

It reminds Louis instantly of the other man locked away along with Louis. At the memory that they aren’t totally alone down there, Louis’ eyes flicker over to the man’s cell. What he sees makes his blood run cold. The man is lying on the floor and looks every bit as dead as Louis thinks a dead man can look. Louis is positive he was very much alive just moments ago. 

Maybe Louis’ kidnapper really did take souls and that’s why the jailed man looks so gastly. Before Louis can delve deeper into his thoughts and theories, the man, still smirking at him, reaches the bottom of the stairs and heads straight for Louis. 

Louis pulls his hand quickly back from between the bars, backpedaling just as fast. After all, Louis does know what the man is capable of and doesn’t particularly want to experience another injury quite so soon. 

He stumbles to the back of the cell and presses back up against the wall, watching the man suspiciously. 

The man steps right up to the bars of the cell and cocks his head. Then Louis sees it. A deep dimple makes itself known in the man’s left cheek. It’s oddly innocent, since nothing else about the man even resembles innocence. He oozes danger and not even his over the top hat can hide that. 

“M’Harry. I apologize for this mess. You see, I had to bring you here, it was for your own safety. Do you understand?” Harry explains, sounding almost patient.

Louis only narrows his eyes at the words. Why would anyone need to keep him of all people, safe?

“Safe from what exactly?” Louis asks. 

Harry offers a small shrug. “My boss sent me. Said you were in great danger and I was to make sure to get you here no matter the cost.”

Louis still isn’t convinced. “You hit me with your gun,” Louis deadpans. 

Harry continues to throw Louis curve balls as he actually looks down at his feet as if embarrassed. “My deepest apologies. I could tell you weren’t in the best condition from the fire so I figured I would be doing you a kindness to let you escape the pain for a bit.”

Louis doesn’t think he fully believes Harry’s tale. It doesn’t fit together. Louis is a nobody with absolutely no talents or characteristics worth protecting. Harry is lying, he must be. 

“If my safety and wellbeing is so important then why am I being kept in a cage like an animal? In the bottom of a ship no less. I have no idea where I am, I have no idea who you are, and I still have no idea why I’m here, since you seem to want to keep that a secret” Louis rants quickly, pairing his question with an eyebrow quirk as he speaks. 

Harry sighs quietly and Louis only narrows his eyes.

“Like I said, I apologize for the circumstances, we didn’t have much time to prepare,” Harry explains, not unkindly. “I bet you’re thirsty, yeah?” 

Following his words, Harry reaches to his left side underneath his coat and pulls out a silver flask. Louis hadn’t realized just how thirsty he actually was until the idea of possibly getting a sip of water came into the picture. 

It’s enough to make him forget about their previous topic of discussion and instead focus entirely on possibly getting a drink to wet his parched throat. 

Louis nods fervently, eyes locked on the flask as Harry’s nimble fingers twist open the cap. The rings adorning Harry’s fingers make soft tinkling sounds against the metal as he makes quick work of opening the flask and holding it out to Louis between the bars of the cell. 

Louis only gives Harry’s face one more quick once over before he lurches forward to snatch the flask away as if worried it would be taken away if he took too long.

No time is wasted once Louis has the drink in his hands. It’s heavy, definitely full, and Louis smiles a little manically as he brings the flask up to his mouth and tips it up towards the skies. 

The rush of cool liquid filling Louis’ mouth is so welcomed that he swallows an enormous gulp and begins filling his hallowed cheeks with more when his brain actually manages to catch up with him and he instantly realizes something is wrong.

The water in Harry’s flask actually turns out to be anything but. It’s bitter and stings Louis’ throat and mouth as it’s swallowed. 

Louis yanks the flask back from his face as a few ragged coughs make Louis’ body shudder from the sheer force. It takes several long seconds for Louis to cease his coughing and choking, but finally, he takes a full breath and feels his lungs expand and deflate regularly again. 

“That wasn’t water,” he accuses as his now watering eyes flicker up to glare at Harry. 

Harry brings his hands up in defense and has the audacity to smirk. “I never said it was water. I said it was a drink, and from the looks of things, I would guess you’ve never had a proper drink before.”

Louis shrewdly screws the cap back onto the flask and frowns to himself since technically, Harry was right, he never did say it was water.

“I’ll have you know I actually have had a drink before, many times in fact. I just wasn’t prepared for this one is all,” Louis defends himself. 

Louis brings his arm up to his mouth to wipe his mouth as if trying to get rid of the taste of alcohol still lingering there. He extends the flask out towards Harry for the other man to take back, wanting nothing more to do with it. 

Now Louis does enjoy drinking, but only when he’s somewhere safe and it’s during a time where he simply wishes to forget. Right now, being somewhere unknown with a strange man watching him from the outside of a cage, Louis doesn’t feel like it’s a very good idea to let his inhibitions loose. 

Harry takes the offered flask, all the while still smirking as if deeply amused.

He unscrews the cap Louis had just put back on, and tips his head back along with the flask and takes a deep swig. It looks like it doesn’t even faze him, when for Louis he felt as if his tongue might dissolve from the burning sensation. 

Louis watches Harry’s throat bob as he swallows, eyes glued to the other man, only snapping them away when Harry tips his head back down and shoots Louis a swoon worthy grin. 

Louis desperately hopes Harry hadn’t caught him staring since this was not the time or place to pine over an attractive man. Especially not an attractive man who Louis still doesn’t trust or particularly like. 

“I want a drink of water,” Louis states as he brings his arms up to cross them over his chest, “Please,” he adds as an afterthought. 

Harry caps the flask for the last time as he pockets the object back under his coat. 

“Of course. I’ll tell you what, how about I let you out of this cell and take you up to the main deck? I’ll get you some water there yeah?” Harry suggests, an eyebrow quirking up at the inclination in his tone. 

At the mention of being let out of the cell, Louis finds himself nodding instantly. Getting a drink of water was the main goal, but being released from this prison was an added perk. “Yes! Yes, I would love that, yes,” Louis answers quickly. 

Harry grins a little wider as he reaches this time into the interior of the other side of his coat and rummages around for a second before pulling out a set of keys. 

It’s quite cliche in Louis’ opinion. 

Harry selects a key relatively quickly which Louis is intrigued by considering just how many keys are on the key ring. Harry then leans forward and slips the skeleton key into the lock on the cell. 

With just a simple twist of the other man’s wrist, Louis hears the sharp sound of metal on metal from within the lock signalling that the key was indeed a match. 

Louis feels just a little spark of hope as he takes a small step forward as Harry simultaneously steps closer too in order to take ahold of the bars of the cell and swing the door open. 

Louis wastes no time as he scurries to freedom, feeling a renewed sense of hope fill him at being released from that godforsaken cell. 

A brief thought of making a run for it crosses Louis’ mind, but he hastily abandons the idea. Where would he run to? If he really is on a ship out on the open seas then he would get nowhere and probably only make Harry angry. 

“Thanks,” Louis says simply, and instead of racing away, he remains beside the peculiar man. 

Harry repockets his keys as he turns around to face Louis again. “It’s my pleasure,” he replies, ever polite. “Now let’s get you up on deck.”

Louis nods in agreement and follows Harry’s lead away from the cell and towards the same set of stairs Harry had used to come down. 

As they ascend the creaky wooden stairs, Louis spares one last glance behind him towards the strange man also imprisoned on the ship. The man doesn’t look like he’s moved at all in the time since Harry has been present. 

Louis almost asks Harry about his concern, but Harry has already reached the top of the stairs, and Louis isn’t about to be left behind, not after being locked in that dark compartment of the ship for so long. 

As Louis speeds up his climb, Harry opens the wooden door standing between them and open air. 

Harry pushes the door further open and Louis immediately flinches and shields himself against the wall. The sunlight streaming in through the door is intense and after being locked in the dark for so long, Louis’ eyes aren’t used to so much light. 

Louis hears a low hiss come from his own mouth as he squeezes his eyes tightly closed and hides them underneath his arm. 

He wants so badly to keep pushing himself forward and step fully outside but he simply can’t, not while painfully blind. 

Louis can hear voices now that the door has been opened, lots of yelling and cursing. It makes Louis all the more desperate to be able to open his eyes and get a look at his surroundings. 

It seems like an eternity as Louis occasionally exposes his eyes to a small amount of light to try and adjust them before finally they don’t burn if he blinks around him. 

He still has to narrow his eyes to see, but now they don’t hurt quite as much. 

Louis is glad to see that Harry has waited for him, standing on the main deck as Louis inches up closer. Finally, one foot passes over the threshold, and then the next, and finally Louis is standing fully on the deck. 

It isn’t what he had been expecting at all. The men crowding the deck look incredibly rough and barbaric. Most of them have unshaven faces, long hair either tied up or left down, and torn clothes. Louis frowns to himself since this doesn’t seem like the kind of ship where he would be taken for protection, of all things. 

“Harry… what kind of ship is this really?” Louis asks a little nervously, looking sidelong at Harry while trying to keep an eye on the men surrounding him. 

Most of them have looked up by then at the newcomers, and it makes the hairs on the back of Louis’ neck stand up. It doesn’t help that his suspicions are now confirmed that he’s on a ship in the middle of the ocean, bright blue water on every side of him, extending as far as the eye can see. 

Louis turns fully to Harry when he doesn’t receive an answer and takes an additional step back as he does. 

Harry is standing tall and proud, a smirk once again gracing his lips, only this time it comes across more sinister. 

“Tell me, Harry,” Louis demands, his voice breaking slightly at the end, taking one more step back. He feels his back hit the doorframe and a soft gasp escapes from between his lips at the impact. 

Harry still doesn’t answer as he reaches behind Louis to close the door leading down towards the cells, effectively blocking Louis’ only escape, which even then would only lead to him being trapped. 

“Welcome aboard the Bloody Mary. You can call me Captain Styles,” Harry says throatily, gesturing to his crew on the desk. And with that, Harry clasps his hand behind Louis’ neck to roughly shove him forward and further onto the main deck. 

Louis falls to his hands and knees with the force, shocked and filled with a new sense of dread. Harry had been acting kindly before just to get Louis to come up to the deck on his own. 

Now Louis knows the real Harry. The actual cruel one who Louis sees now. The Harry who is a notorious pirate captain only spoken about when children aren’t present due to the violence and gore surrounding his name. 

The same pirate captain who kidnapped Louis and now stands above him, holding all the power in this situation. 

“Fuck,” Louis whispers, knowing he’s really in over his head now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear time has flown since the last update. I have no idea how that happened so fast. With school and work and everything happening it's just been chaos. So FINALLY, here is an update! I don't know yet how I feel about this chapter, but I wanted to at least get something up and I can always edit it later. 
> 
> Also, trigger warning for this chapter regarding physical violence, so if that's something you don't want to read, then I would suggest skipping over the majority of this chapter. The last few paragraphs are fine though. 
> 
> Please be gentle with this one! I'd love to hear some opinions and comments!
> 
> Thanks! x

Louis’ luck seems to just be getting worse and worse as time goes on. Ever since the day of the fire, whenever that may have been, everything has been going downhill. 

It really makes him wonder what he might be doing right then had he not gone to work at all that day. If he had just taken a day off, or perhaps if he had arrived earlier or later to the fire, then he wouldn’t be in this mess now. 

If only Louis had known what was in store for him. He would have gladly taken a day without pay over being kidnapped and dumped on a ship full of pirates including the one and only Harry Styles. 

Logically, Louis knows his clothes aren’t quite threadbare enough to expose his body underneath, but it sure feels like he’s been staged fully naked in front of a bunch of grotesque men for their enjoyment. They leer at him, flashing their teeth while they circle like hungry sharks, examining him like a piece of meat they might want to taste. 

The ogling makes Louis feel uneasy and unable to properly defend himself if needed, so he shifts his weight and braces his palms flat against the rough wood of the deck. His legs compress under his weight and help force Louis up and onto his feet. 

Louis isn’t on his feet for more than a few seconds before Harry crowds up into his personal space and sneers down at him. It had escaped Louis just how tall Harry is in comparison to himself. He has to tilt his head back slightly in order to meet the pirate’s eyes. 

Instinctively Louis steps back from the imposing figure before him and scowls up at him as he does. Harry doesn’t let him get far, closing the space once more. 

“You’ve heard of me then? What I do and how I do it?” Harry asks, voice dropping an octave.

Louis does know about Harry. He knows all about Harry’s way of life. The stealing, killing, fighting, and all of those other horrendous things. Mental images of those activities pop into Louis’ mind and he recoils back once again from the monster in front of him. 

Harry simply flashes a self satisfied smirk. 

It burns Louis up inside to know Harry can so obviously see Louis’ fear of him. Louis wants to be brave, but after being knocked unconscious, locked in a cage, and now introduced to one of the most ruthless pirate captains of the seven seas, he simply can’t put up the front. 

Louis’ subconscious must be taking over and keeping him from being reckless. Pirates are the reckless ones, and one wrong move or wrong word could set them off and get him thrown overboard. 

Harry turns around to face his leering crew and flashes them his same stupid smirk he had just been giving Louis. “Gentlemen,” he begins, pausing to look from crew member to crew member, “Let’s give our guest a warm welcome aboard the Bloody Mary, shall we?”

Harry finally steps away from Louis, which momentarily allows Louis to relax just a bit, until he realizes why Harry had moved in the first place. 

The crew has begun moving. It’s as if there are no individual men and simply a large mass moving as one, encroaching into Louis’ space. Louis almost wants Harry to come back just because that would mean keeping the crew at bay. 

Louis’ hands instinctively rise up to provide at least somewhat of a boundary between him and the fast approaching crew. His head swivels around him as he tries to find an escape route. Desperation runs wildly through him as he frantically scans the crowd of bodies. 

It dawns on Louis that there is no escaping this. He’s surrounded and weaponless, with no way out. “Stop, please, I’m begging you, please don’t,” Louis squeaks out meagerly. There is no way to be falsely brave at this point. Dignity means nothing if he’s about to be killed. 

The men pay him no mind as Louis feels hands grab and paw at him, making him flinch away only to land in another pirate's dirty hands. Desperate sounds fall from Louis’ lips as unwelcome tears prickle at his eyes. 

The pirates aren’t gentle with Louis either. His body is so slight that each and every jab hits a nerve and makes Louis jump. Their nails are unkempt and sharp, their breath hot and rancid, and their words vulgar in his ears. 

One pirate gets extra handsy, fingers dipping under Louis’ waistband as he has become the object of one large scale game of tug of war. The intrusive fingers make Louis cry out, struggling in everyone’s grips to try and rid them from his pants. 

Of course the pirates don’t seem to be phased in the slightest at Louis’ continued resistance. If anything, the struggle fuels their grotesque behavior and encourages them to continue. 

In all of the chaos Louis’ managed to lose sight of the captain. He doesn’t get to dwell on the thought however, as he feels one particular pirate lean in close from behind him to speak into his ear. Louis suspects it’s the same one getting handsy with him but can’t manage to turn his head properly around to see. 

“Cap’n ain’t let us off this ship in weeks… that means I ain’t seen a woman in weeks neither. But now, we got you, and I’m thinkin’ you’ll make a fine replacement. You’re built just like one,” the pirate murmurs. 

The same pirate then brings a hand up Louis’ front to press two finger tips against Louis’ lips. The fingers absolutely reeked, making Louis grimace in disgust. The pirate seems to use the grimace to his advantage because as soon as Louis draws his lips back, the pirate tries to shove a finger past his lips and into his mouth. 

Now while Louis may not be physically strong enough to push the pirate away. He knows his teeth can be used as a weapon in which strength isn’t necessarily needed. So without another thought, Louis bites down on the intruding finger, hard. And he doesn’t let go. 

Several things happen next. The pirate howls in pain and simultaneously pulls back on his finger to try and remove it from Louis’ mouth. The exploitive hand creeping around Louis’ backside also instantly disappears. Even then, Louis doesn't release the man's finger. The bitter taste of blood filling Louis’ mouth is almost enough to make him open up and release his grip on the pirates finger, but doesn’t get a chance to on his own will. 

Someone, likely another pirate, grabs a fistful of Louis’ hair in which they pull sharply. The sudden force and pain of the attack does the trick and the pirate succeeds in getting Louis to open his mouth to release the others finger. 

As soon as Louis’ hair is released and the finger removed, the real pain begins. He hardly gets a chance to regain his bearings before he’s being forced down to his knees roughly, practically thrown. The rough wood of the deck stings against Louis’ palms as he catches himself from falling forward onto his face. 

A swift kick is delivered to the soft flesh of his abdomen and Louis’ eyes snap closed as a bark of pain escapes his mouth. His body naturally curls in on itself in an attempt to protect his vulnerable areas. He can hear the men above him shouting and laughing as several more kicks are rained down on him, each one more painful than the last and each one landing on a different spot of Louis’ body. 

Louis’ mind is unable to catch up with each kick in order to try and defend himself or cover himself where he anticipates being kicked next. 

By this point Louis has lied down against the deck and curled himself up into the fetal position; head tucked down against his chest, legs brought up and tucked against himself, and arms wrapped around them. He can hear himself whimpering and gasping out in pain now, his pained yelling having been subdued after the kicking continued and it got to be too much to shout in pain. Tears steadily stream from his eyes which are clasped tightly shut.

If Louis would’ve been in his right mind by this point, he would believe he’s beginning to go into shock from the intensity of the pain, which is the real reason he isn’t shouting anymore. His body is being overwhelmed and triggering his brain to numb his body and to give him an out of body experience. 

Louis’ mind is beginning to get so foggy that he isn’t even aware that the kicking suddenly stops. The loud voices stop ringing out as well and Louis is left lying against the deck, perfectly still. 

Nothing seems to happen as Louis simply breathes in and out, feelings his pulse throb all over his body. He thinks he’s starting to shake, but can’t be bothered to concentrate enough to determine if he really is or not. He’s only just becoming aware that his body is being kicked around anymore and that’s enough for him. 

Finally, after lying frozen for a while longer, Louis hears a low murmur in his ear. He frowns to himself and lets out a small whimper of protest at the noise. He’d quite enjoyed his peace and quiet. The noise doesn’t stop though, even with Louis’ soft protest. This time the noise is accompanied by a poke to his side, which had just been kicked over and over so teh sharp jab makes Louis flinch and cry out. His eyes blearily open as he tucks himself back up tight thinking the abuse was about to begin all over again. 

However, no further beatings come. A sigh of air is all Louis hears as he trembles in the silence. If he really concentrates, Louis can hear the waves lapping at the sides of the ship. It’s oddly relaxing, and makes him feel just a little bit more comforted. 

Then, suddenly, Louis feels his body being moved. He whimpers again even though the movement isn’t necessarily harsh or threatening. Louis takes a moment to gather his bearings again before he dares open his eyes. When he does though, he’s met with the sight of the ocean. It makes Louis tense up and throws an arm out to try reaching around for something to hang onto, worried he’s about to end up in the ocean himself. What his hand ends up finding isn’t wood like Louis was expecting, but something a little softer and warm. 

Louis turns his head to the other side and narrows his eyes against the bright sun, blinking to focus on what he’s seeing. What he sees, or who, is no one other than Harry himself. It begins to click then that he’s being carried which is why he can now see the ocean. It also explains who had been murmuring in his ear. What doesn’t make sense though, is why exactly Harry is carrying him. 

The question must show on Louis’ face even if he doesn’t say anything out loud because Harry rolls his eyes as he looks down at Louis. “You lose all value to me if you’re dead,” Harry grunts as an answer. It isn’t a comforting answer, but Louis can’t say he isn’t glad the beating stopped, and it sounds like it was Harry’s doing that it had. 

Louis still doesn’t say anything as he’s carried away, passing crew members as they go. Louis subconsciously cowers closer to Harry’s chest where he’s held against. He isn’t in the position to demand being put down or to get away from the man who is keeping him from being beaten to death by a seemingly blood thirsty crew of barbarians. 

So Louis lets Harry continue carrying him away, remaining docile for the moment to conserve energy and so as not to cause any more pain to course through his body. 

Louis’ forehead rests against Harry’s chest and while Louis would never admit it, to himself or to Harry, the warmth feels amazing, and Harry's body acts as a better pillow than Louis has ever used. 

Louis even lets his eyes flutter closed again for the ride. The moment doesn’t last for very long though, and within a minute, they arrive at their final destination, a storage closet. When Harry passes through the doorway and out of the sun, Louis notices the change in lighting even with his eyes closed and he opens to them to look around. He can see barrels stacked against a wall, shelving along the other walls stocked with jars and wooden boxes, and a small window in the far side of the small room which looks out over the sea. It seems like dried goods and other supplies are stored here. 

Louis hardly has time to get a look in at the room before Harry leans down to deposit Louis on the floor. Even though Harry doesn’t set him down roughly Louis still winces at the pain and lies real still to let his body adjust. Harry pays Louis no attention as he steps over his body to go back to the door. He makes like he’s about to leave the room and leave Louis’ inside, but Louis can’t let that happen, not just yet. 

“Wait,” Louis rasps, taking a moment to simply look at Harry and make sure he stops, which thankfully, he does. He realizes he doesn’t even know what to say, and feels put on the spot now thanks to himself. “Why did you bring me in here?” Louis finally settles on asking. 

“Would you prefer to go back down to your cell?” Harry asks, quirking an eyebrow as he looks down at Louis. 

Louis frowns and shakes his head quickly, which in turn makes himself wince again. 

Harry simply smirks then and nods once, before turning around and stepping fully out of the room, closing and locking the door behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where has time gone?! It's been a while since I've updated and I apologize for that. It just took getting covid to force me to lock myself away and actually get some writing done. I have another week of quarantine left, so we may get lucky and another chapter might be on the horizon. Stay well everyone!!

Louis scuttles to the furthest wall of the tiny room, which even then is only a few arm lengths from the door. Louis lets his head lightly fall back against the hard wood of the wall as he brings his knees up to his chest to hug, careful not to hurt himself as he does. 

He stares for a few moments at the door in front of him trying to collect his thoughts and let what just happened to him sink in. Louis can still taste the remnants of coppery blood in his mouth, the corners of his lips turning down at the reminder of why the blood was there in the first place. 

A few more moments tick by as the shock fades away from Louis’ mind, allowing him to figure out his next plan of action.

Louis knows for a fact the door is locked, since he had heard the lock click into place when Harry closed the door behind him, so it would be useless to try it. Maybe there’s something else that could be valuable to Louis in a time like this. 

So Louis begins to flick his eyes around the miniscule space around him. He already had seen from being brought in that the room must be for storage. Upon further inspection, the jars lining the shelves appear to have some kind of dark amber liquid within each and every one of them. Probably some kind of booze, Louis thinks. Not useful in this situation. 

Beside the jars are wooden crates. He would need to get up to actually be able to see the contents of those. So with a heavy sigh, Louis unfolds his legs and carefully pushes himself up onto his feet. In doing so, Louis winces and keels over in pain, clutching his belly. 

His eyes squeeze shut and he remains in that position for a minute, focusing on his breathing to try and fight through the pain. The crew must’ve really done a number on Louis to make him hurt this badly, and all just to stand upright. 

Finally, Louis grits his teeth and very gradually stands back up to a straight position. The pain definitely doesn’t disappear altogether, but Louis perseveres. 

Now upright, Louis can peek over the sides of the crates on the shelves to view what’s inside. At first Louis is unable to identify what he’s looking at. It’s just heaps of metal bits. Then it clicks. They aren’t just any metal bits, they’re bullets. Louis has never had or used a gun before which is why he couldn’t identify the bullets right away. 

Louis peeks over into the next crate and it’s filled with the same bullets. The same goes for the next crate, and the next one after that too. As hopeful as Louis is that maybe he might find an actual gun in one of the crates, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to. It would make sense though, since Harry would never be dumb enough to lock Louis in a room full of guns and ammunition. 

“Shit,” Louis mutters under his breath, irritated that even with an endless amount of bullets, he has no way to actually use them in any way. 

He huffs out a breath, instantly regretting his decision to do so as it ignites a sharp pain in his side. His hand rushes down to press on the painful area, willing it to go away. Eventually it does and Louis removes his hand to go back to snooping. He’s covered all of the shelves by now, realizing that they contain only booze and bullets. 

Louis turns his gaze down to the only things left in the room which consist of four barrels, two on the floor and two balanced on top of them. Louis sidesteps over to them and attempts to figure out what they contain. He lightly pushes at one to gauge how heavy it is, and it doesn’t move. Louis pushes one more time, a little harder, and still nothing. He goes through the same process with the other barrel on top and he gets the same results. No way would Louis be able to lift them off of one another even normally, but especially not now with his beaten body. 

So Louis tries stepping on his tiptoes to reach up and feel if there's a cover on the top barrels. He grinds his teeth through the pain of stretching his arm so far. All of that for naught, it seems, as Louis’ fingertips brush against rough wood, meaning there is indeed a cover on the barrel. 

There’s no other way to view inside the barrels, Louis finds out, as he lowers himself back down and uses his hands to palpate along the outside of each barrel feeling for holes or weak spots. Nothing. 

Another few profanities slip out of Louis’ mouth as he steps back and scowls to himself. There’s nothing else in the room to examine or that might help him in some way or another. There is the window though, which is Louis’ last shred of dim hope. That hope shatters though, as Louis steps over to the window to examine it. The glass is bolted to the wooden wall and even if Louis could break it, the window is far too narrow for Louis to fit out of. That, and where would Louis even go if he could get out? He would fall right into the unforgiving sea either to drown or be picked right back up again by Harry’s crew. 

Neither option sounds particularly pleasing to Louis. He doesn’t have to worry about either though since there’s no possibility of getting through the window anyway. 

“My luck is just the worst,” Louis grumbles to himself in exasperation, scowling again as he brainstorms on what to do next. There aren’t many options left. He could bang on the door and demand to be let out, but Louis remembers how violent the crew is, and he rethinks that plan. At least in this room he’s safe, for the moment. So the only other option Louis can think of is to sit and wait. What he would be waiting for, Louis doesn’t know. 

With a sigh, Louis decides to try one last thing as he gently makes his way back over to the door and presses his ear up against it in an attempt to listen to what may be going on on the other side. The door is made of heavy wood so Louis isn’t surprised when all he can hear is a faint and muffled chorus of voices from the crew outside. He can’t make out any words. 

When listening doesn’t work, Louis decides to change his tactic. He lowers himself back down to his knees, once again doing his best to ignore the pain searing through his body in protest. Once on his knees, Louis crouches down to press his cheek against the floor and line his eye up with the slit underneath the door. This proves to be a better idea than listening since at least now Louis can get a slightly clearer picture on what’s happening out on the deck. 

Louis can’t see much of course, but he can see feet and movement. Since Louis is unfamiliar with how ships are run, particularly pirate ships, he has no clue what everyone is doing exactly. It looks to him as if everyone is just stomping around all over the place. 

“Bunch of brainless cavemen, that’s what you all are,” Louis whispers to himself, making himself feel just a little bit better in saying that outloud. He continues to watch for a few minutes, but when nothing different ever happens, Louis huffs and gives up. He sits slowly back up and crawls over to the corner of the storage closet to prop himself up against the walls, eyes on the door ready for whatever might come his way next. 

\------------

Louis is with his mother and his little sisters and brother. His mother seems to be feeling better, as she is out of her bed and excitedly talking to her children, Louis included. The joy they all share by being together is heavy in the air. It makes Louis feel as light as a feather, giddy with it. 

“Louis, be a dear and tell us another one of your marvelous stories, would you? I just know we’re all dying to hear one, right?” Louis’ mother insists, as she beams brightly at Louis before looking to all of his siblings for an agreement. 

Louis fondly smiles as altogether without missing a beat, each and every member of the family chimes in with an eager yes. Each child’s eyes swivel to Louis in excitement for a story. 

Louis sits down on the sofa and laughs to himself at their eagerness. He knows his family has always loved stories, especially his. He’s been told he has a gift for them. The littlest children crawl into Louis’ lap and everyone else comes to sit around him where they can hear him best. 

“What shall I tell you a story about then, huh? Do I hear any suggestions from the audience?” Louis asks cheekily. He knows everyone is going to have an idea, and he’s right. Once again everyone begins talking over each other, announcing their ideas for a story. 

Louis laughs along with his mother as the chattering grows even louder it seems. “Alright alright then, listen up,” Louis declares and waits patiently for the talking to die down. “Since none of you can agree on anything, I will pick for us. How about a story about… pirates?” Louis suggests, holding up a hand to curve his index finger into the shape of a hook. 

The talking starts right back up again, only this time everything said is in agreement with Louis’ idea. It makes Louis chuckle and nod as he tries to quickly spin up a tale on the spot. 

When the talking slowly dwindles out, Louis clears his throat to begin. “There once was a pirate who sailed the great seas. This pirate was special though. This pirate has a super power. He can make anyone fall in love with him.” Louis says, voice dropping a little to appear dramatic. 

“Our pirate never uses his power for evil though. He wants someone to love him naturally and on their own. The day finally comes though, and our pirate finds the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with. But this other person wants nothing to do with our pirate. So the pirate uses his power out of desperation. He feels like there is no other way,” Louis continues. 

As Louis opens his mouth to keep going with his story, words that aren’t his come out. “Wake up. Oye, mate c’mon wake up.”

A swift jab to his side jerks Louis from his slumber as a hiss of pain escapes his lips. HIs side is still tender and now it throbs thanks to the kick he just received. He had been having such a nice dream too, and now he’s being thrust back into reality. 

Louis blinks around him as he gathers his bearings. He hadn’t even realized he had fallen asleep. As he blinks his eyes into focus, Louis discovers who to blame for the kick to his side. It’s a man, on the younger side, probably around Louis’ age. He has dark brown hair, but the top is bleached likely from the salt and the sun working on it every day. 

“Atta boy, mate, come on back to reality,” the man encourages, sounding a little too chipper for someone to have just rudely awoken Louis and kicked him. Louis won’t be forgetting that anytime soon. “I’m Niall. Cap’n sent me to come get you. It’s eating time,” Niall says. Louis swears the man’s eyes light up when he says that.

Louis hadn’t realized it before, but he actually was really hungry himself. He hadn’t noticed that for the entirety of his time aboard this ship he hadn't had anything to eat. Louis was too concerned with everything else going on that he hadn’t paid much attention to when his next meal would be. His stomach seems to agree with him, because it growls as if right on cue. 

Niall must hear because he gives Louis a lopsided grin as he extends his hand to help Louis stand. Louis looks at Niall’s hand distrustfully. Louis doesn’t remember any faces from the scuffle earlier that day, but Niall must have been around right? Maybe he was even one of the offenders who gave Louis one of his many bruises. So Louis remains quiet and ignores the hand offered. 

Louis instead pushes himself off the floor, managing to only wince once as he stands up entirely. Niall just shrugs and lets his hand fall back down to his side, seemingly unfazed by Louis’ rejection. 

“Alright, c’mon then,” Niall quips, turning around to lead Louis out of the storage closet. 

Louis doesn’t think he has a lot of choice in the matter. If he doesn’t go on his own will, he’s sure he will either be forced, or even worse he might be made to stay in the closet and not get anything to eat at all. Another growl from his stomach makes the decision for him. He takes a few hesitant steps towards the open door where Niall waits just outside. 

Louis peers outside onto the deck and sees no one else. Not only that, but the sun has gone down and an eerie darkness has settled around the ship. The only light provided was the bright moon. Louis finally takes the last step to get him outside of the safety of his little closet, and he stops to wait for Niall to lead him wherever they’re intended to go. 

“Follow me,” Niall instructs as he closes the closet door behind them. He then turns to head to a flight of stairs leading down from the deck and into the belly of the ship. It makes Louis nervous. At least out here in the open he feels a little more free. Within the deep confines of the ship, he would be trapped. 

Louis worries on his bottom lip having yet to take a step towards the direction Niall just went. He knows he has no other choice though. There’s no turning back now. So Louis tries to take in a deep breath, though it's a shaky one, and he forces himself forward to follow Niall down the stairs. It’s then that Louis can hear voices. Loud and gruff voices echo up the stairs and into Louis’ ears. At least he now knows where the crew has disappeared to. 

Luckily down inside of the ship there are lanterns lighting the way, because Louis would never be able to make it down the stairs without them since the sway of the ship makes such a simple task difficult. Louis catches Niall’s figure turn to the right as he enters an even more brightly lit room. The same room Louis thinks he hears the voices coming from. 

Louis allows himself one more deep breath before he too turns into the room. The voices quickly die out and all eyes turn to him, including Harry’s. “Take a seat,” Harry instructs, a wicked grin curving onto his lips.


	6. Chapter 6

Louis certainly hadn’t been expecting the sight he takes in. The entire crew it seems, is sitting around a smattering of small tables pushed up against one another to create a makeshift larger table. The captain himself is situated farthest from Louis, clear across the crowded room, eyes trained on Louis’ own. The air inside the small room is stuffy and reeks of sweaty men. The stench is so powerful it makes Louis’ eyes begin to water. 

The entire situation puts Louis extremely on edge. The last time Louis was graced with the presence of the entire crew he had been violently assaulted. 

Louis tears his eyes from Harry’s to scan the room anxiously for an open chair, preferably far away from anyone else. He catches sight of the man who had released him from his closet prison; Niall, Louis remembers. The man in question had wandered over to the table to take a seat and was looking over at Louis as well, trying to meet the others eyes. 

There is an open seat beside Niall and it seems the man is nodding down at it as if to indicate Louis should come to sit beside him. A frown settles upon Louis’ lips as he considers his options rapidly in his head. Either don’t sit and risk the captain getting angry, or sit down and risk getting beat up or even felt up again. 

It seems like Louis’ time to decide for himself is up however, as Harry slams a heavy fist down onto the table top startling Louis from his trancelike state. A noise of surprise leaves Louis’ mouth and he backpedals back up against the wall. All eyes flip now from Louis over to Harry. Louis had thought it to be silent before, but now it seems as if a pin could drop and it would be heard over the deafening silence encompassing the small room. 

“Are you dull or something? I said, take a seat,” Harry repeats. 

Louis bites the inside of his cheek at the hostility in Harry’s voice. It seems his choice has been made for him. Louis’ feet carry him over towards Niall, deciding that if he has to sit anywhere it might as well be near the one person on the ship who seems to possibly have a soul. 

All eyes are back on him now as he pulls the chair further out from the table and wordlessly sits down, purposefully sitting a little further from the table just in case he needs to make a hasty exit if things turn for the worst. Niall gives him a weak half hearted smile, seemingly to try and be encouraging, but it doesn’t do much to help Louis’ plummeting confidence levels.

A shrill screech makes Louis flinch as Harry rises from his chair. The captain places his hands flat on the table to lean some of his weight on them; whether to appear imposing or simply casual, Louis isn’t eager to find out. 

Harry’s bright green eyes meet Louis’ own and a slow and oddly relaxed smile brings the corners of Harry’s lips up. “Who’s hungry?” he asks, head tilting ever so slightly to the right. 

It appears those must have been the secret words to bring the crew out of their unsettlingly silent trance. The crew erupts into a blend of shouts and cheers; the idea of food appearing to be the absolute highlight of their day. Louis, however, remains quiet as a churchmouse and proceeds to break eye contact with Harry. 

“Bring out our dinner boys,” Harry calls over his shoulder as he remains standing. Within seconds several crewmates pass through a swinging wooden door on the opposite wall from Louis. They’re each holding burlap sacks in their arms. Louis furrows his eyebrows as he tracks the men with his eyes, curious to say the least. As each man begins to reach into their sacks and reveal what they contain, it dawns on him that it must be their dinner. Some of the foods he can see are bread, dried meat, apples, and Louis can’t identify the fourth component of their meal. The very last crew member is carrying a large jug. Louis instantly recognizes it as one of the large jars he was locked in the storage closet with. It must be rum or another kind of alcohol. 

Louis also notices that there are no plates or cutlery to be seen. The food is simply placed on the table top in front of each member of the crew. As if being able to read his thoughts, Niall leans over into Louis’ space to explain. “Dishes have to be washed and we don’t have enough water aboard for that. Or space to keep ‘em. No spoons or nothing else either,” he says. “I’m sure you ain’t used to that kind of thing, but it’s all we got,” Niall continues. “The rum just gets poured right into our flasks. We all got one or two on us all the time,” he adds with a little grin. 

Louis is actually very familiar with the notion of not using any kinds of cutlery or dishes. They tend to be pretty expensive and he only has a few of each himself and sometimes they’re almost more work to keep clean and put away than they’re worth. Louis glances away from Niall as one of the crew members seems to have appeared at Louis’ side. It must be his turn to be served. The crew member doesn’t offer any food though, and instead passes Louis to go to Niall and places a slice of bread before him.

“Excuse me, but I think you may have skipped me,” Louis calls after the crew member. He hasn’t eaten in what feels like days and while Louis is very well versed in the feeling of going hungry, by this point he’s absolutely starving. 

The crew member either doesn’t hear Louis or simply ignores him because he keeps moving down the table to others and gives everyone else some bread. As Louis is about to speak up again, another crew member with the foreign looking food approaches him. “I will take one of those please,” Louis exclaims, referring to the food in the sack. 

Not another second goes by before the crew mate smirks and passes Louis too, going straight to Niall instead. Niall gives Louis a slightly sympathetic look, but doesn’t offer to share his food. 

By now Louis knows it is intentional that he isn’t receiving any dinner. They know he’s there and they know he wants to eat too. No one else seems to be bothered or aware of the whole ordeal until Louis looks over to the captain. Harry is still standing and grinning lazily as he brings an apple up to his mouth to bite. When he notices Louis watching him, Harry’s grin widens as he chews quite happily. Self satisfaction is written all over his face and he isn’t even trying to hide it. 

Louis scowls and turns away to try and snag the next crew mate coming by. “Please, I’ll take...”, Louis cuts himself off as the crew member steps right past Louis without so much as looking at him. It’s like he doesn’t even exist. Once again, Niall receives an apple but Louis doesn’t. 

Great, Louis thinks, now he has to tack starvation onto his rapidly growing list of worries. He doesn’t even try to snag himself any food when the last crew member comes his way with the dried meat. If the others wouldn’t give him anything why would this one. And Louis is right, he’s passed again. Was he only brought out from that tiny closet to be tortured with food? 

All of the pirates have also been poured a drink directly into their personal flasks just like what Niall had said. Not Louis though, of course not him because it doesn’t seem he will be allowed anything. 

“I would like to make a toast,” Harry shouts over the roar of every man in the room tearing into their food and talking loudly in the process. He raises his own shiny flask into the air in front of him and sweeps his gaze across his crew, watching as each one quiets down and brings their flasks out in front of themselves too. 

“I would like to toast to our combined effort in apprehending our little prince,” Harry proclaims, eyes slanting to the side to look at Louis. “May we all reap the benefits to come. Cheers boys,” Harry finishes and raises his flask higher and further from him. The crew does the same as a chorus of cheers erupts from around the table. As soon as Harry finishes his little speech and throws his head back to gulp down his rum, everyone follows suit and drinks heartily too, including Niall. 

Louis doesn’t appreciate that he was the subject of the toast and hates the fact that Harry’s apparent nickname for him is little prince. It’s demeaning and taunting. However angry Louis feels, he knows better than to open his mouth just yet. He’s too hungry to get on Harry’s bad side so soon. 

An idea occurs to Louis as he watches Harry drink though. Perhaps if Harry starts to feel the influence of his drink, maybe he can be swayed into giving the order to allow Louis to secure some food for the night. It seems Louis may not have any other option. 

Harry, in the meantime, has since settled back into his chair to dig into his own portion of dinner. He doesn’t look at Louis again as he eats, though Louis is eyeing the man's meal, stomach rumbling. He turns his head to the side to instead look at Niall who now looks part animal in how he is eating his food. The dried meat in Niall’s hands stands no chance when the pirate is gnashing his teeth so fiercely. It’s a little unsettling for Louis, though he himself feels like he may look the same if he were to have a spare morsel to eat considering how hungry he is. 

“Niall, would you happen to know why I don’t get something to eat too?” Louis asks, his hunger enough to give him some short term bravery. His eyes flicker from Niall’s food to Niall himself, back and forth. 

It appears to take Niall several moments to even register what Louis had said, he is so invested in his eating. Niall does a sort of double take when it finally does occur to him that Louis had just spoken to him. “What?” he asks around a mouthful of food, the concept of manners foreign to him. 

Louis clears his throat. “Do you know why I didn’t get anything to eat? Everyone else got something,” Louis repeats indignantly. 

Niall glances at the meat in his hands as if it is only then occurring to him that Louis indeed didn’t get a single speck of food. He had noticed before that Louis had been skipped a couple of times, but had figured he would get at least something little. A somewhat guilty look overtakes Niall’s face and he swallows his bite of food. 

“I would share some of mine with ya, but I bet the captain gave the order not to give you anything. If I did, I might get the same treatment you are,” Niall offers apologetically. “I can’t help you much here, mate.”

Louis scowls at the lack of any real empathy from Niall. He had seemed like the most humane person aboard the ship, but apparently he isn’t willing to go above and beyond to help get Louis something to eat. If Louis weren’t quite so famished maybe he would understand where Niall is coming from. Instead, Louis turns back away from Niall, the sight of the other man with food he is refusing to share being too much for Louis to handle any longer. 

Since there isn’t much food to be had for anyone, most of the crew is finishing their meal up already. Some are licking their grimy fingers for every last crumb and others scanning their spot at the table for any droppings they might have missed. A loud belch from Louis’s left makes him startle, earning a few laughs from those sitting around them. Louis’ scowl deepens. 

“Pigs,” Louis mumbles under his breath, “Every single one of you.”

Louis recognizes his mistake when the man sitting directly to his left turns his beady eyes to Louis. “What did you just call us?” he growls. 

Louis attempts to reel back as he gapes up at the beast of a man who seems to be growing in size. Louis realizes it’s because the pirate is beginning to stand up. 

It turns out Louis had been smart to keep his chair away from the table because he needs the extra time it saves to leap to his own feet and attempt to run from the almost certain beating he is about to receive. He pushes himself up and bolts in the other direction. 

Louis doesn’t realize it yet, but as his situation is unfolding, the pirates sitting around the table begin to take interest and a low buzz takes over the room as the men begin to consider what might happen next. 

It doesn’t take long for the pirates to get their answer as Louis gets only a few steps from the table before his shirt is grabbed and he’s being yanked backwards. With a sharp yelp Louis collides against the pirate and isn’t strong enough to break free from his iron grip. Time to plead. 

“Please, I’m sorry I didn’t mean it I swear, I’m just hungry, please I mean it, really I do,” Louis begs as memories from the attack on the deck enter his mind and fill him with dread. 

His begging seems to do nothing but make the pirate even more angry. “Oh you meant it alright, and now you’re about to pay for that,” the man hisses into Louis’s ear loud enough for everyone around them to hear. 

The volume from around the table is no longer a low buzz, but instead the noise is replaced by cheers and chants of encouragement for their fellow pirate. No one cheers Louis on or tries to put a stop to the antagonizing. Louis still doesn’t feel good from his last beating, and he can’t imagine he will feel any better after this one. He can’t over power the man behind him, nor can he count on anyone else to save him. So Louis does the only thing he can do. He closes his eyes and braces himself. 

However, pain doesn’t come. No punches land, no kicks are delivered, no anything. Even the noise suddenly comes to a halt. Louis is breathing hard and quick, still prepared for something to happen, for something to hurt. He refuses to reopen his eyes until his shirt is released and he’s lightly pushed forward and away from the man holding him back. 

In his confusion and his stumbling Louis does open his eyes, just in time to see none other than Harry himself leering before him. Louis catches his balance before he collides against the captain and nervously flickers his eyes around to try and get a read on what might be the explanation for this. 

He doesn’t have to look for long before he’s offered an explanation by Harry. “You just can’t keep yourself from starting fights huh?” Harry asks in a nonchalant tone. “I’m growing tired of saving you every time. What’re you going to do when I’m not around and can’t come to your rescue?”

Louis balls his fists up and angrily looks from Harry, to the crew, to the pirate who just tried attacking him, and back again. “I just wanted something to eat. I haven’t eaten since you brought me onto this stupid boat,” Louis snaps and glares at Harry. He hopes his little jab doesn’t get him thrown back to the dogs, but he did want to get his point across to Harry. He wouldn’t have said anything had he been given something to eat. 

Harry quirks an eyebrow as he looks down at Louis. It really makes Louis furious that Harry is taller than him. It’s so hard to come off as intimidating when you’re significantly shorter in comparison. Louis doesn’t break eye contact though, determined to do the little he can to try and seem serious and not to be taken as a total joke. 

Harry once again flashes a smirk, one Louis is beginning to think is Harry’s signature thing. Louis hates it. Louis wants to smack it off of Harry’s stupid face. 

“Oh you haven’t eaten? I hadn’t even noticed,” Harry says almost innocently. 

Louis sees right through his phony words. When Louis doesn’t give, Harry’s smirk widens. 

You don’t believe me,” he states, phrasing it as a statement rather than a question. “Maybe you’re smarter than I thought.”

Louis scowls at Harry’s taunts. “Maybe I am,” Louis retorts challengingly. Louis just hopes no one can see him shaking, because it would give away his false bravado immediately. 

The crew watching them seem to collectively start whispering among themselves, once again making bets about what might go down now, if Harry will retaliate and reassert his dominance, or if he’s going to let Louis take the win. 

Harry steps closer to Louis and crowds right into his personal space. “I don’t think it’s wise for you to speak to me like that. You wouldn’t want me to have to put you in your place now would you?” Harry asks lowly, his smirk never leaving his lips. It’s like this is all a game for the pirate captain. 

“You can’t put me any place lower than I already am,” Louis snaps back. 

Harry tilts his head sideways and hums. “I suppose you’re right about that.”

With that, Harry takes a step back from Louis and turns away to saunter over to the head of the table where his chair is sitting vacant. Instead of taking a seat he remains standing and looks out and around at his crew. “No more messing with our little prince. He is to be left alone. Damaged goods are worthless and I won’t tolerate any further damage being done. That is all, you are all dismissed.” Harry finishes with a slight wave of his hand. Grumbles of complaints come from several crew members as they stand to leave the table.

Louis remains rooted in place, unsure of what he should do as everyone else files slowly out of the room and goes off to who knows where. Harry is the only other person to stay in the room as well. He does nothing but watch as everyone leaves, and only when no one else is left does the pirate turn to face Louis. 

“Come with me. I will see to it that you are fed,” he tells Louis. He doesn’t wait for an answer either as Harry simply turns on his heel and strides towards the open door himself. Louis is too stunned to move for a moment, and only turns to follow Harry once the captain disappears. Louis would prefer not to be left alone even if Harry had ordered his goons not to touch him anymore. 

Without wasting any more time, Louis hurries to catch up with the captain and follow him further into the belly of the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I actually feel pretty proud of myself for getting an update out because school has started back up for me and I have a feeling things are about to get busier around here. Anyway, I hope you all have been staying safe and healthy and have a fantastic day! xoxo


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